Anti-Japanese Protests Continue Getting Ugly In China

The rage is continuing in China, where demonstrators are defying government warnings to stage angry anti-Japanese protests — shouting anti-Japanese slogans and going after a Japanese diplomatic post and restaurants.

What will be interesting as this outpouring of seemingly sponataneous anti-Japanese emotion erupts is what the government’s response will be….since it’s unlikely the Japanese government (or people) will accept the explanation that China had no way to halt the protests.

According to the AP:

SHANGHAI, China Apr 16, 2005 — Chanting “Japanese pigs get out,” protesters threw stones and broke windows at Japan’s consulate and Japanese restaurants in China as some 20,000 people defied government warnings to protest Tokyo’s wartime history and its bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.

Peaceful protests were reported in two other cities. Beijing remained calm. Police stood guard on Tiananmen Square to block a planned demonstration in the heart of the capital, a day ahead of a visit by Japan’s foreign minister. Paramilitary police surrounded the Japanese Embassy, where protesters smashed windows last weekend.

Japan’s Embassy said two Japanese were injured in Shanghai after being surrounded by a group of Chinese, Kyodo News agency reported. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

The third weekend of anti-Japanese protests erupted despite government demands for calm. The nation’s communist leaders apparently worry that the protests might do more damage to relations with Tokyo, which are at their lowest point in decades, or encourage others to take to the street to protest corruption or demand political reforms.

Tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have been fueled by disagreement over the U.N. Security Council, gas resources in disputed seas and new Japanese textbooks that critics say minimize Japan’s wartime offenses.

Meanwhile, Japan has lodged an official complaint over the protest — not exactly a sign that diplomatic relations between the country are on a notable upswing. The BBC:

Japan has lodged an official complaint after mass protests in the Chinese city of Shanghai turned violent….

Japan’s foreign minister, who is due to visit China on Sunday, said he would complain to the Chinese government, and called for compensation for damage.

Nobutaka Machimura said he would “strongly protest” against the anti-Japanese protests during a visit originally aimed at defusing the tensions.

In a statement, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said violent anti-Japanese protest seemed to be happening every week.

“Whatever the reason for this violent and destructive behaviour, we will not accept it, but strongly criticise it,” the statement added.

The isssue of Japan’s wartime behavior and post-war remorse is a huge issue in China, as this part of a report from China’s People’s Daily Online underscores:

On Mar. 14 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo said in answering a Japanese reporter’s question: “Now the main problems in China-Japan relations lie in the fact that some leaders of Japan have been repeatedly visiting the Yasukuni Shrine which enshrine class-A war criminals. This has enormously hurt the feelings of the people of China and other Asian countries. — Japanese leaders should strictly abide by the principles of the China-Japan Joint Statement and two other political documents, take history as the mirror and look forward to the future, they should refrain from doing anything hurting the feeling of the Chinese people, nor should they do anything that would affect the normal exchange of high-level visits and the normal development of relations between the two countries.”

Outlook: This crisis does not look as if it has reached its peak yet.